Bus Stop

Bus Stop (1955), a play by William Inge. [Music Box Theatre, 478 perf.] At a small‐town Kansas restaurant and bus stop, run by a hardnosed woman called Grace ( Elaine Stritch), a bus discharges its passengers during a blizzard. Among the passengers are a strumpety nightclub “chantoosie,” Cherie ( Kim Stanley), and an aggressive, randy cowboy, Bo Decker ( Albert Salmi), who is determined to pester Cherie until he gets what he wants. At first Cherie hides from Bo, but the long stopover forces her to change her tack. By the time the bus is ready to move on, Cherie has brought out Bo's tenderness and humility. When he tells her he is virgin enough for the two of them, Cherie responds, “Thass the sweetest, tenderest thing that was ever said to me.” They board the bus together, their new‐found romance applauded by the oddly assorted travelers who have shared their wait. Another of Inge's treatments of modern sexuality, the play, Louis Kronenberger noted, had “a rowdy, positive quality that is theatrically very useful to the largely static form, the largely Chekhovian mood of the play; it gives a sense of motion to what is becalmed, and of lustiness to what is basically sentimental.” The Robert Whitehead–Roger L. Stevens production was particularly applauded for 's performance. A commendable 1996 revival at Circle in the Square that featured Mary‐Louise Parker and Billy Crudup as Cherie and Bo failed to run.